Although the students of Nasarawa State University has been blamed in some quarters for not conducting themselves well in the event leading to the death of two students of the institution, activist and human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), maintains that negligence led to the deaths.
The Senior Advocate of Nigerian in a statement released on Sunday said: “Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nassarawa State was reported to have ordered the distribution of two 7.5 kg bags of rice and N5,000 to each student of the State University at Keffi.
“The distribution of the palliative was scheduled to hold at the state university’s convocation square last Friday morning. As the distribution exercise was not well organised, there was a stampede of thousands of students at the venue. The stampede led to tragedy as many students were injured.
“As the university health centre was ill-equipped to treat the injured students, they were rushed to the Federal Medical Centre in Keffi, Nassarawa State.
“As the injured students were not promptly attended to, two female students were pronounced dead while at least 17 others were left with varying degrees of injuries arising from suffocation at the venue of the distribution of rice. Our thoughts and condolences go to the families and friends of the deceased students.
“According to the state government, the tragic incident occurred “when suspected hoodlums and some misguided students forced their way into the school’s convocation ground to cart away the rice kept at the venue meant for distribution as palliatives to students.”
“But the Vice-chancellor of the University, Prof Suleiman Bala decided to blame the tragedy on the victims of the official negligence. He was reported to have said that “our students were not patient enough to follow the process of accessing these palliatives.”
Falana described the students’ death as unfortunate, adding that the authorities of the University failed to draw any lesson from the recent stampede which claimed the lives of seven persons during the distribution of 25kg bags of rice in Lagos by the Nigeria Customs Service.
According to Falana: “No doubt, the tragedy would have been averted if the University management had distributed the 7 kg bags of rice to the students through their departments. Indeed, there was no justification to have assembled thousands of students without a standby ambulance.
“As if that was not enough, the university health centre was not equipped to attend to the injured students. Hence, they were rushed to the Federal Medical Centre in Keffi where two female students were certified dead.”
He however remarked that given the facts and circumstances of the tragedy, the Nassarawa State police command should be directed to investigate the allegations of criminal negligence which led to the unfortunate death of the two students.
“The culprits should be prosecuted without delay. In view of the official statement that hoodlums hijacked the distribution exercise the state government and the university management are required by law to compensate the bereaved families of the two students,” He said.
After the Lagos incident, Falana demanded that the Nigeria Customs Service compensate the families of seven persons who died in the stampede that ensued during the sale of low-cost rice at the Customs office in Lagos.
The Nigeria Customs announced the sale of 25kg bags of rice for N10,000, following a directive by President Bola Tinubu that rice seized from smugglers should be sold to Nigerians at a cheaper price to ease the food crisis in the country.
During the sale, which began on February 23, seven persons died in a stampede at the Customs Zonal Headquarters in Yaba, Lagos State.
The tragic incident led to the immediate suspension of the low-cost rice sale.
Falana, in a statement on Sunday, stated that it was sad that up till now the authorities of NCS had not deemed it fit to identify the families of the victims to at least commiserate with them.
The SAN said the NCS must take full responsibility for the incident.
“Since a bag of rice was selling for N77,000 at the material time, it ought to have occurred to the Nigeria Customs Service that its zonal headquarters in Yaba would not be able to contain the crowd that had been invited to purchase a 25kg bag of rice at N10,000.
“Therefore, the authorities of the Nigeria Customs Service should take urgent steps to identify the bereaved families of the seven deceased citizens with a view to paying them adequate monetary compensation.
“However, if our advice is ignored by the authorities, we shall not hesitate to approach the Federal High Court to enforce the fundamental right of each of the deceased persons to life as guaranteed by Section 33 of the Nigerian Constitution and Article 4 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights,” Falana said.
The senior lawyer, however, urged NCS to lift the suspension of the sale of the remaining bags of rice without any further delay.
“To avoid another stampede, the distribution should be carried out through the appropriate local government councils and local government development areas in Lagos State and other states of the federation,” he said.
